The current study aims at characterizing the mechanisms that allow humans to entrain the mind and body to incoming rhythmic sensory inputs in real time. We addressed this unresolved issue by examining the relationship between covert neural processes and overt behavior in the context of musical rhythm. We measured temporal prediction abilities, sensorimotor synchronization accuracy and neural entrainment to auditory rhythms as captured using an EEG frequency-tagging approach. Importantly, movement synchronization accuracy with a rhythmic beat could be explained by the amplitude of neural activity selectively locked with the beat period when listening to the rhythmic inputs. Furthermore, stronger endogenous neural entrainment at the beat frequency was associated with superior temporal prediction abilities. Together, these results reveal a direct link between cortical and behavioral measures of rhythmic entrainment, thus providing evidence that frequency-tagged brain activity has functional relevance for beat perception and synchronization.

Cameron, D. J. & Grahn, J. A. The influence of culture on rhythm perception, behaviour and neural entrainment to the beat. Proceedings of the “Rhythm Perception and Production Workshop”. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2015).

Nozaradan, S. et al. Musical entrainment directly recorded in the depth of the human temporal and frontal cortex. Proceedings of the “5th International Conference on Auditory Cortex – Towards a Synthesis of Human and Animal Research”. Magdeburg, Germany (2014).